Automatic apparatus for making piped or welted pockets

ABSTRACT

In an automatic apparatus for folding, sewing and cutting piped or welted pockets on a sewing machine, the material presser is connected to a slidable support which is slidable along the sewing and cutting direction, and the material presser is in the form of first and second clamping bars independently movable to clamp a piece of pocket material onto the slidable support. The clamping bars are independently moved to and away from the material clamping position by pneumatic motors controlled by a pneumatic circuit, which in turn is controlled by manual control means. Side pressers are provided for folding the piping material over a piping shaper foot, after which the sewing and cutting of the piped pocket is accomplished automatically.

United States Patent 1191 Nolli AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR MAKING PIPED ORWELTED POCKETS [75] Inventor: Luigi Nolli, Nieder-Roden, Germany [73]Assignee: Necchi Socleta per Azioni, Pavia,

Italy 22 Filed: June 28, 1974 21 Appl.No.:484,227

Related us. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No.373,100, June 25,

1973, abandoned.

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data June 24, 1972 Germany 2230997[52] US. Cl. 112/70 51 1111. C1. D051) 3/04 58 Field of Search 112/65,70, 74, 76, 121.11

[ 1 Oct. 14, 1975 Primary ExaminerH. Hampton Hunter Attorney, Agent, orFirm-Larson, Taylor & Hinds ABSTRACT In an automatic apparatus forfolding, sewing and cutting piped or welted pockets on a sewing machine,the material presser is connected to a slidable support which isslidable along the sewing and cutting direction, and the materialpresser is in the form of first and second clamping bars independentlymovable to clamp a piece of pocket material onto the slidable support.The clamping bars are independently moved to and away from the materialclamping position by pneumatic motors controlledby' a pneumatic circuit,which in turn is controlled by manual control means. Side pressers areprovided for folding the piping material over a piping shaper foot,after which the sewing and cutting of the piped pocket is accomplishedautomatically.

4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures US. Patent 00. 14, 1975 Sheet 1 of43,911,838

U.S. Patent Oct. 14, 1975 Sheet 2 of4 3,911,838

HQHIWI 4 26 FIG. 4 W? l US. Patent Oct. 14, 1975 Sheet 3 of4 3,911,838

US. Patent Oct. 14, 1975 Sheet4 of4 3,911,838

AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FORMAKING PIPED OR WELTED POCKETS CROSS REFERENCE TORELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation-in-part ofapplication Ser. No. 373,100, filed June 25, 1973, and now abandoned.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to automatic apparatus forproducing piped pockets in apparel.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Automatic devices for use inmaking piped or welted pockets of the type to which the inventionrelates have been manufactured for some time by, for example, the NecchiCompany, of Pavia, Italy, under Model No. 1702, and by the ReegeCompany, of Boston, Massachusetts. Machines of this type are disclosedin commonly assigned US. Pat. Nos. 3,745,946 and 3,653,345, issued July17, 1973, and Apr. 4, 1972, respectively. Such devices or machines arealso disclosed in publications of the Necchi Company, such as a pamphletentitled Necchi Mechanization Series, Class 1701, Class 1702, Class1703, Class 1705, a pamphlet entitled A Treasure in Your Pockets, and aninstruction manual on the use and maintenance of the machines, entitledNecchi Automatic Units Class 1700. These devices have been used widelyin Europe and the United States. In these known machines, the uppermaterial, that is, the material in which a piped pocket is to be sewn,together with the pocket material, is thrust under the material presserframe, and clamped by this presser frame, and the piping material isthen laid on a shaping rail or side presser, shaped to a piping by thepiping shaper foot and the side presser, and then sewn together with theupper material, the pocket opening being cut at the same time. Dependingupon whether a piping seam is to be made on both sides or only on oneside of the pocket, one speaks of a double or a single piping. In anycase, heretofore upon depression of the material presser frame, its twoarms clamped the upper material on both sides of the pocketsimultaneously.

Such machines have some drawbacks. Thus, with simultaneous clamping ofthe material to the right and left of the pocket, it becomes practicallyimpossible to smooth and tension the upper material by hand ahead oftime. This makes itself disagreeably evident in seat pockets introusers, over which ordinarily there are wedge shaped tucks previouslysewn, running crosswise with reference to the piping seams, and causinga bulge because these deformations cannot be eliminated before thesewing of the piping, so that the latter may turn out inaccurately.

The known machines were also generally not suitable for production ofpockets from elongated piping material, especially of knit goods,because in this case the material had to be laid on the appurtenant sidepresser and guided under the other arm of the material presser, whichwas extremely difficult.

Depending upon the kind of material and its thickmess, the two arms ofthe material presser and the two shaping rails or side pressers havedifferent distances separating them. To adjust this, the presser framesformally had to be exchanged, and it was necessary to stock a number offrame sizes.

Finally, in known machines it was disturbing that even with singlepiping the applied piping in the presser frame method had to be slippedback from the forward position to the retracted position in which thepiping was formed, because clamping of the piping in the forwardposition was not feasible. Placing of the piping only in the rearposition of the pressure frame is awkward. Since there are singlepipings, especially in the case of knit goods, that often have apattern, flaws occurring that are attributable to the retracted pipingshow up.

The invention is directed to the problem of developing an automaticdevice of the type mentioned for making piped pockets, wherein thedisadvantages will be largely eliminated. The new device makes possiblea smoothing of the top material, and in the case of single piping itlikewise makes it possible to smooth out the piping material before theclamping, as well as production of piped pockets from a long pipingpiece.

These problems are generally solved in accordance with the invention inthat the material presser is in the form of two clamping arms or barswhich are individually movable into the clamped setting. Dividedmaterial pressers are basically known in somewhat similar machines, suchas, for instance, the button holing machine of German Pat. No. 582,940.In such known machines of other types, however, the material pressershave another function, and in contrast to the invention they clamp thematerials simultaneously with both arms.

In use of the new device of this invention, for example in production ofseat pockets, the material can be tensioned on one side, and then eitherautomatically or manually smoothed out until the other arm of thematerial presser is lowered. With single piping, after onesided clampingof the upper material, the piping material may be applied on this sideand held against a stop, while it is smoothed to the other side, andthen in this position it is clamped by the lowering of the other arm ofthe material presser. In production of piped pockets, the long pipingcan be introduced without difficulty between the separated arms of thematerial presser while one arm is in the clamped position and the otheris disengaged. If a change of distance between the two arms is required,this can readily be adjusted. It is not necessary to exchange the entirematerial presser.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment of theinvention will be apparent from the following description and drawings,in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a sewing machine provided with the materialpresser in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a section view along line 22 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 3 is a section view along line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a detailed view of the material presser;

FIG. 5 is a perspective schematic view showing the material presser inan operative phase; and

FIG. 6 is a pneumatic layout for controlling the operation of thematerial presser.

With reference to FIG. 1, a sewing machine is indicated generally byreference character 50, the machine being equipped to make piped orwelted pockets, and comprising a bed 51, a base 52, a standard 53, anarm 54 extending parallel to bed 51, and a head 55, a needle bar 43projecting from the head and carrying a pair of needles 18 and 20suitable for forming two longitudinal parallel stitchings, and a blade22 driven by needle bar 43, movable with needles l8 and 20 for making aslit parallel to the stitching and central relative to them.

At one end of the upper shaft, not shown in the drawings, two pulleys 56and 57 are mounted suitable to receive the driving belt, also not shown,connected to the electric motor of the sewing machine. The displacementof the belt from pulley 56, integral with the upper shaft, to pulley 57,idly mounted on said shaft, is obtained through a belt shifter connectedto a well-known lock mechanism generally indicated at 58. A rod 59 isconnected with lock mechanism 58 and is adapted to slide in the upperpart of arm 54. The front end of rod 59 acts on opposed axes of twowell-known thread tension devices 60 to neutralize the thread tensionwhen the machine is locked. All of this is well-known in the art as willbe seen from the patents and publications referred to previously.

A slidable support 12 (FIGS. 2, 3 and is slidable in bed 51 and receivesdriving movement from a double acting pneumatic cylinder 61 and from ahydraulic fluid control cylinder 62 adapted to make the speed of workplate 12 uniform and adjustable. A material presser generally indicatedby reference character 24 (FIGS. 1, 4 and 5), formed by two separatedclamping bars 32 and 34, for clamping a pocket material 36 (FIG. 5) ontoslidable support 12 is drivingly connected with slidable support 12through a pair of levers 26, 28 and a kinematic chain, which will bedescribed in more detail hereafter. A pair of side pressers 63 (FIG. 1)and a piping shaper foot 16 are provided for positioning and suitablyfolding a piping material 38 in a known manner, as described in thepreviously mentioned patents and publications. Side pressers 63 areconnected with levers 64 shown in FIG. 3 fastened to the lower portionof hubs 65 which can slide along the axis of shaft 66 by means of apneumatic cylinder 67 (FIG. 1), as described in more detail in theaforesaid US. Pat. No. 3,745,946.

Shaft 66 is pivoted, free to rotate, in mountings 66 (FIG. 3) fixed tosupport 12.

Lever arm 28 of material presser 24 is fixed by means of a screw 70 to aplate 71 slidably mounted in a slot in lever 72 which is rotatablymounted on shaft 66, and thus can rotate around the axis of shaft 66.Lever 72 is also fixed to a member 74 by means of screws 73. Member 74is connected through a pin 75 to the end of a connecting rod 76.Connecting rod 76 is pivoted at its other end by pin 77 to the end of aV-shaped member '18 which can pivot about a pin 79 fixed to mounting 68.The other free end of V-shaped member 78 is pivotally connected at 80 torod 81 of a pneumatic cylinder 82, the function of which will beexplained hereinafter. A similar kinematic chain and motion are providedfor lever arm 26'through rod 101 of a pneumatic cylinder 98. 1

Apart from the arrangement of presser 24 as two separate clamping bars32 and 34, and the arrangement for individually and independentlyraising and lowering these clamping bars, the illustrated and .describedstructure is generally known in theart from the previously mentionedpatents and publications.

Referring now to FIG. 6, when the operator, acting on treadle 83, causesit to make a first angular displacement, valve 84 opens by virtue of theaction of member 105 rotating around pin 106 connected with the threadlethrough rod 107, thus opening part of the circuit to main air line 85.Air flow from valve 84 through valve 86 and tee valves 87 and 88 reachespilot 89 of valve 90, changing it over. Air flow from general feed ispassed by valve 90 through duct 91 to cylinder 82. The rod of cylinder82 is thereby brought to the position of FIG. 2, corresponding to theposition of clamping bar 34 lowered onto pocket material 36. Whentreadle 83 makes a second angular stroke, member 105 opens valve 92,whereby air flow coming from main feed passes through tee valves 93 and94 to pilot 95 of valve 96. Valve 96 controls air flow from generalfeed, and passes such air flow through duct 97 to cylinder 98. Cylinder98, therefore, has its rod 101 moved to the position of FIG. 2,corresponding to the lowered condition of clamping bar 32. At the end ofthe sewing and cutting of the pocket pipe, valves and 96 are changedover, whereby air flow through flow regulators 99 and 100, respectively,reaches cylinders 82 and 98 to actuate their rods in the oppositedirection, which causes, through the separate kinematic chains formed byelements 78, 76., 74, and 72, the rotation of levers 72 around the axisof shaft 66 with the consequent raising of both arms of material presser24.

If it is desired to lower clamping bar 32 before the lowering ofclamping bar 34, it is only necessary to displace lever 102 of valve 86as indicated in dotted line in FIG. 6 to change over valve 86.Thereafter, when treadle 83 makes its first angular stroke, openingvalve 84, air flow from feed duct 85 passes through valve 84, valve 86(changed over), duct 103, tee valves 93 and 94, and reaches pilot ofvalve 96, changing it over. Air flow which is connected from generalfeed to valve 96 is passed therefrom through duct 97 to cylinder 98,thus causing lowering of clamping bar 32. When treadle 83 reaches theend of its stroke, air flow changes over valve 90, and the changing overof valve 90 causes driving of cylinder 82 and consequently of clampingbar 34. In this way, the opportunity is provided of varying the loweringsequence of clamping bars 32 and 34 of material presser 24.

The side pressers of shaping rails are not shown in any substantialdetail in the drawings, since they are well known in the art, and aredisclosed in detail in the previously two mentioned patents. The mannerof operation of the instant invention will be also readily apparent tothose skilled in the art, and hence a detailed discussion isunnecessary. Other details of a machine incorporating the invention,apart from the novel features herein disclosed and claimed, will bereadily apparent to those skilled in the art, and are adequatelydisclosed in the previously mentioned patents and publications.Accordingly, only so much of the machine has been described andillustrated herein as will facilitate an understanding of the instantinvention.

I claim:

1. In an automatic apparatus for folding, sewing and cutting a pipedpocket on a sewing machine, a slidable support mounted on the bed ofsaid apparatus and slidable along the sewing and cutting direction; amaterial presser connected to said slidable support for movementtherewith; said material presser comprising first and second. clampingbars; means independently mounting said bars to clamp a piece of pocketmaterial onto said slidable support; drive means for operating saidclamping bars a kinematic chain for each clamping bar independentlyconnecting the first and second clamping bars with said drive means formoving said clamping bars individually and independently to and awayfrom the material clamping position; and manual control means forcontrolling said drive means.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said kinematic chain for eachclamping bar comprises an arm fixed to the clamping bar at one end andto a pivotally mounted lever at its other end such that pivotal movementof the lever raises and lowers the clamping bars, a connecting rod fixedat one end to the pivotal end of the lever and at the other end to onearm of a V-shaped member pivoted at its apex about a fixed mounting onsaid slidable support, the other arm of said V-shaped member beingconnected to said drive means.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein said drive means comprise twopneumatic motors coupled respectively to said other arms of saidV-shaped members, and a pneumatic circuit controlled by said manualcontrol means and connected with said motors.

4. Automatic apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said manual controlmeans comprises a treadle for driving, during a first angular stroke,one of said pneumatic motors, and during a second angular stroke, thesecond pneumatic motor, the first and second angular strokes causing insuccession the lowering of said first clamping bar and said secondclamping bar on the pocket material.

1. In an automatic apparatus for folding, sewing and cutting a pipedpocket on a sewing machine, a slidable support mounted on the bed ofsaid apparatus and slidable along the sewing and cutting direction; amaterial presser connected to said slidable support for movementtherewith; said material presser comprising first and second clampingbars; means independently mounting said bars to clamp a piece of pocketmaterial onto said slidable support; drive means for operating saidclamping bars a kinematic chain for each clamping bar independentlyconnecting the first and second clamping bars with said drive means formoving said clamping bars individually and independently to and awayfrom the material clamping position; and manual control means forcontrolling said drive means.
 2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 whereinsaid kinematic chain for each clamping bar comprises an arm fixed to theclamping bar at one end and to a pivotally mounted lever at its otherend such that pivotal movement of the lever raises and lowers theclamping bars, a connecting rod fixed at one end to the pivotal end ofthe lever and at the other end to one arm of a V-shaped member pivotedat its apex about a fixed mounting on said slidable support, the otherarm of said V-shaped member being connected to said drive means. 3.Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein said drive means comprise twopneumatic motors coupled respectively to said other arms of saidV-shaped members, and a pneumatic circuit controlled by said manualcontrol means and connected with said motors.
 4. Automatic apparatusaccording to claim 3 wherein said manual control means comprises atreadle for driving, during a first angular stroke, one of saidpneumatic motors, and during a second angular stroke, the secondpneumatic motor, the first and second angular strokes causing insuccession the lowering of said first clamping bar and said secondclamping bar on the pocket material.